My current AC game...

[MoNoLitH]

This game is with Alien Crossfire (unpatched).

I began as Captain Svensgaard of the Nautilus Pirates for a number of reasons. First, the name is cool. Second, I like the color. Third, the ability to build in the sea from the start of the game is surprisingly useful. I find that as Svensgaard, the computers have trouble keeping up with me because not only are my units moving 4 squares at a time, I don't have to contend with as much native life or other factions for territory. I tend to go about 100-150 years without meeting anyone on these games.

Difficulty is Librarian (light work-out for me, but Transcend drones riot too damned much) and Map size is huge. I generated it randomly and selected all average features.

Rules are custom: no blind research, yes tech stagnation.

I begin in the center west portion of the map. The first 100 years are quite uneventful as I build and explore.

First contact is with the Caretakers, whom, in prompt alien fashion, declare war on me in about 3 turns.

Shortly later, I meet the Consciousness and Drones, both of whom remain cordial for the time being. The drones even agree to help me as I start to pound the Caretakers into the ground with my needlejets and chaos squads.

I meet the Usurpers before I am finished with the Caretakers, and, surprise, they decide to go to war with me also. Aliens really don't like me. I have NEVER had a treaty with them.....just a truce while they are seething.

The Planet Cult discovers me now, and we go to war on and off for the majority of the next 100 years, neither of us really doing much damage.

After I finish the Caretakers, I have about 30+ cities in the year 2260, making me the #1 power on the planet. The Consciousness is #2, making us natural competitors. In another 10 turns, the Consciousness pulls a surprise maneuver and suddenly goes hostile, joining with Usurpers and surprise attacking me.

I fight both the Consciousness and the Usurpers at the same time. Somewhere along the line I met the Data Angels, who remained my ally for about 200 years. She helps me fight both the Usurpers and Consciousness. The drones agree to ally as well.

It is here that I have enough power to vote myself Supreme Leader of planet. The drones back me up, and together I win the 2/3 vote needed to win the game. of course, I prefer to keep playing after the game is won, so I did.

After I finish the Consciousness off, I take the Planet Cult out, who tried to help the Consciousness against me. The Usurpers fall soon after. The Data Angels have since cancelled their alliance with me (twice).

Then, the Data Angels go hostile, obviously envious of my superior technology and the fact that I have the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm (and just about every other SP). I kill them gleefully, detonating a planet buster on their last city, which seems to have contributed to the drones' decision to cancel their alliance.

With just me and the drones left on the planet, and the fact that I favor a Cybernetic society, it is clear there will be war. I use my vaunted Doomsphere strategy (Gravship chassis, 30!-12-10*4 SAM boosted by building large numbers of 1-1-10 SAM ships then upgrading them to the Doomsphere variant) to blast through the drones' 30+ cities in about 5 turns. I used 5 planet busters to speed the process along, and was quite amused to see the drone's single retaliatory buster strike be deflected by one of my many orbital defense pods.

I obliterate the last drone base in M.Y. 2520 and achieve world conquest, not many turns after the game would've ended normally. Hehe.


Now, I control the planet, and I plan to use the scenario editor to bring back some of my enemies so I can kill them again and again.


All in all, I really should stick to Transcend from now on, hmmm?

[CEO Aaron]

Your game parameters are custom-designed for an already feeble AI to flag against a human-managed opponent. Tech stagnation assures that cooperating AI factions won't lurch ahead of you technologically, and guided research ensures that you'll enjoy the advantages of the lynchpin techs you research first for many, many turns before the AI catches up. Finally, the huge map and the sea start virtually ensures that you won't have to fend off hostile neighbors until your core bases are secure.

There are people who play this game on Transcend with HUGE restrictions to give the horrific AI some semblance of a chance against them. You've played what amounts to a fairly pedestrian game at moderate difficulty.

You're definitely ready for the jump to transcend. I also recommend weaning yourself off the huge map. Learning to develop in closer quarters to the AI will sharpen your skills and force you to make early concessions if you want to secure early projects.

[Santiago_Claus]

I hate to say you "sucketh" ... it would be more accurate to say that you're not yet up to 'poly standards, but then few of us up to those standards are up to the standards of uber-managers such as Kody, so it's all relative.

Set this as a benchmark:

Research every tech, build every SP except 3, and Transcend by MY 2300, at the Transcend level of difficulty.

By 'poly standards that's a modest goal, but I'll vote "Yes" in your next poll if you can reach it.

[Frankychan]

A conquest victory always gets my vote.

But you didn't play as Chairman Yang.

[Enigma_Nova]

I'm 1337% better than you.
Yeah, fairly normal game you've got going there.

It will take a few months on these boards to sharpen your skills.
Care to view some open-information games we currently have in progress?

Kody, Buster et all. are not immortal. They can be defeated - but only by understanding tactics and using your wits.
I'm not sure if you'll reach their level, but it's worth a shot.

/me gets an idea for a new thread

[binTravkin]

You mentioned 2 important (for me) numbers:

30+ bases: 2260
Conq Victory: 2520

My normal (I keep no record for best ones - just try to remember them) results on Huge map:

30+ bases: 2160 (after gainin PTS at early 40's its no prob to pump out 2 CPs at each of your 10 bases in 5 turns, so most times I manage to have 30+ even faster)

Conq victory: 2220 (& this is not a good result here because Im not used to conquest & some players here are just HUGE @ early SPatrol, MW & ImpRover rush)

Dont take it too seriuos -> play some more, read some more strats here, join an ACDG team & you will soon be muchmuch better!:

[smacksim]

Agree with the other comments for the most part. I find it hard to judge whether you are playing guts-out to win or are just toying with the AI? If this game is your best attempt to dominate the planet, then yes, you have lots of room for some improvements. On the other hand, if this game is shared with us just for the joy of sharing a good AI whomping, then congratulations!

Transcend: As for your drone problems, this is a crucial management task that gets to be second nature the more you play. Without the HGP and VW, you'll be a bit slower than 2160 to get 30+ bases, but those are still good targets.

Good luck!

-Smack

[Skanky Burns]

I had to vote for the second option, as I also currently suck.

[binTravkin]

Its no prob to get 30+ bases at 2160 if youre Morgan/Uni/Hive (&less likely->drones/lal/believers)
if you manage to find an AA, use it to quickly make HGP!

It will kill your drones as your bases are not larger than 2 initially & thus boost production of crawlers.
Presuming you have 8 bases at that time & each has 2 forest squares available & rectanks built means, you have ~4-5 mins per base, 3 turns to half-complete crawler, 1 to finish it by cash, so in 5 turns you have 8 crawlers which is enough to build PTS

Playing as Morgan I usually have:
IE: 210(5-7)
IA: 21(14-20)
HGP: 213(0-5)
PTS: 21(35-40) (5yrs after HGP)
30+ bases: 21(45-65) depends on too much: AA, commerce income, landing site, enemies, native life & most importantly -> whether some other smacer has grabbed those 2 SPs before me!

transcend
no techstag
no blindres
huge map

[smacksim]

Ah, you're absolutely right binTravkin. 2160 isn't at all unreasonable. I've been playing with tech-stag and no use of AA's (must save for end of game: cash in 45 AAs for 45 future techs .) for so long that I've forgotton how fast the techs come otherwise. Recently I actually had to use a couple AAs to complete a single project in the early game. Miriam in the Jungle caused the other AI to finish projects in the 2140s, surprising me.

-Smack

[Flubber]

An easy but very slow win on a lower difficulty level. While I don't believe you suck, this effort is far from notable. If you enjoyed the game well then it has served its purpose.

I was a little troubled by your statement about not meeting anyone for a 100-150 years. IMHO this shows a great flaw in your play since as the Pirates I would want to meet everyone as soon as possible ( and not call the council or sell comm freqs to maintain a communication monopoly). The goal is to be a tech broker. If the AI won't play ball with trades, you can always proberape them well before you get to the hundred year mark ( depending on distance but absolutely before 150 years). At a minimum you want them all infiltrated if its possible. Why are you foregoing meeting folks? Most factions are friendly early ( before your SE choices tick them off) and you are missing out on tech trades and commerce-- both of which will speed along your game

As for playing until 2520 or whatever --ouch-- I don't think I have seen a game into the 2400s in quite some time--in single player, 2300 is usually as late as I care to go before the win becomes so obvious that it is simply tedious to finish things off

[MoNoLitH]

See my new thread for your answer as to why I don't want to meet other factions early.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by binTravkin
Dont take it too seriuos -> play some more, read some more strats here, join an ACDG team & you will soon be muchmuch better!:

binTravkin is right. MoNoLith, if you like conquest victories, why don't you join the Spartans in the next Alpha Centauri Democracy Game?

[Straybow]

Sven is too easy; Sea Colonies are too powerful. You get the equivalent of two Base Facilities free. You get a Pressure Dome for free, and the Pressure Dome doubles as Recycling Tanks.

3 fixes in Alpha.txt:
First, change Pressure Dome to have a maintenance cost of 1 instead of 0. Makes the most difference early in the game.

Second, add a basic vehicle type Colony Foil that includes the 8 row cost of a Pressure Dome in the vehicle cost (total 15 rows). Also set the Colony Pod cost at 3 rows (instead of 0=calculated) and add a Colony Wagon to keep the base cost constant (due to fix 3 below). Remember to change the number following the #UNITS line to include the added vehicle profiles, and new profiles must be added to the end of the list.

Third, change the cost for Colony Pod equipment from 10 to 32 to prevent re-engineering the Colony Foil at the cheaper costs. This will also slow cheapening of cost with advanced power plants (since we can't simply add the 8 rows or create profiles for advanced power plants in vehicles).

#WEAPONS
…
Colony Module,        Colony Pod,     0, 8,32, -1, None,     ; Noncombat packages

#UNITS
[total number of unit profiles here]
Colony Pod,             Infantry, Colony Pod,   Scout,      8, 3, 0, None,    -1, 000000000000000000000000
…
Colony Foil,            Foil,     Colony Pod,   Scout,      8,15, 0, DocFlex, -1, 000000000000000000000000
Colony Wagon,           Speeder,  Colony Pod,   Scout,      8, 8, 0, Mobile,  -1, 000000000000000000000000

#FACILITIES
…
Pressure Dome,                 8, 1, DocFlex, Disable,  Submersion/Resources

[Chaos Theory]

Pressure domes don't do much for most of the game besides be recycling tanks. Sea colony pods are 4 rows more expensive than colony pods, which is exactly the cost of rec tanks. Furthermore, units are more expensive to rush than facilities. Sven may be good, but you're exaggerating his strengths.